When Montreal bought a bunch of Novabuses in the 1990s, it sold its classic 1970s New Look buses to whoever would take them. Toronto has a bunch and at least one made it to Cuba, where the guys at Coolopolis spotted it roaming the streets in 1998.
Photo du jour: ¡Bienvenido a bordo!
Read more articles by Christopher DeWolf
7 comments
When I was working in Lebanon I saw a few of our old Van Ambulances in use there, not to mention lots of trademark infringements including, STCUM logo on a Czeck Travel Agency, Diamond Taxi and St. Hubert’s Chicken giving the thumbs up.
These busses were SO much better than the boxy new low-slung busses. There is standing room for about 4 people in the back of those novabuses. Also, I miss the parallelogram-shaped windows and pouffy blue benches. Oh yeah, and the accordion doors. And windows in the back. sigh.
thats so interesting! .. i remember taking those buses back in high school and recently noticed that toronto was still operating a large number of “New Looks”.
somehow the novabuses just don’t have the same appeal
Those buses can operate indefinitely over in Cuba. The frames and body won’t corrode due to our salt we use in winter, and as long as Catro is still the ruler, we’re going to see lots of great vehicles from the past over there!
Completely agree with Alanah. The low-floor Novas look and ride terribly. I’m all in favour of improved access for people in wheelchairs, but there’s go to be a better way. Will we be forever stuck with Nova just because they’re Quebec-made? I was in Ottawa last weekend and the OC Transpo buses look like, well, big city buses.
OC Transpo buses are terrible in summertime though – practically no windows that open.
More than one made it to Cuba, I saw the Jean Talon 141 in Varadero in 1997, while enroute from the airport to the hotel, by my camera was packed!!!